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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Last year the streets in parts of the old city dropped by nine feet.

The reason? A massive garbage haul. Just about every unemployed man in Murad Khane was recruited to clean up years of litter and mud piled on top of the streets. By the time they were done, the streets and alleys were lower.

The garbage project is part of an effort to clean up and restore old Kabul, after six years of relative peace and with millions of dollars from foreign donors.

The Turquoise Mountain Foundation, which is dedicated to traditional Afghan arts and architecture, has spent $1 million on conservation and clean-up in the Murad Khane neighborhood since last year. The Kabul organization is financed by both Western and Middle East donors.

The lower street level at first left Abdul Salaam's door looking oddly out of place, perched three feet higher than the square in front of it. So Turquoise Mountain had to fix his door, too, with fresh mud scars showing where it used to be. The frayed edges of plastic bags still stick out of the wall.

I've met him a few times, and he's a top bloke- as well as an excellent writer. He's deeply sceptical about our efforts in the South, thinking that Helmand etc is essentially ungovernable from Kabul, at least at this stage, and ought to be left to its own devices. Though I suppose one could argue that, as non-Pashtun speaking Persophile, he's just absorbed the prejudices of the Dari-speakers around him...